The Role of Nanostructure in Improving the Performance of Electrodes for Energy Storage and Conversion

Centi, Gabriele

doi:10.1002/ejic.200900275

Cited by 147 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 247 publications

(256 reference statements)

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“…CNTs have already found practical application, for example in plastic reinforcement and conductive plastics, [3,[5][6] mainly for the automotive industry. Furthermore, research is ongoing in fields such as medicine, [7] electronics, energy production and storage, [8][9][10][11] and catalysis, where the CNTs function as catalyst [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] or catalyst support. [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) mixed with epoxy resins lead to larger and lighter blades for wind turbines, increasing their efficiency by 30 %.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress on the Growth Mechanism of Carbon Nanotubes: A Review

2011

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Tremendous progress has been achieved during the past 20 years on not only improving the yields of carbon nanotubes and move progressively towards their mass production, but also on gaining a profound fundamental understanding of the nucleation and the growth processes. Parameters that influence the yield but also the quality (e.g., microstructure, homogeneity within a batch) are better understood. The influence of the carbon precursor, the reaction conditions, the presence of a catalyst, the chemical and physical status of the latter, and other factors have been extensively studied. The purpose of the present Review is not to list all the experiments reported in the literature, but rather to identify trends and provide a comprehensive summary on the role of selected parameters. The role of the catalyst occupies a central place in this Review as a careful control of the metal particle size, particle dispersion on the support, the metastable phase formed under reaction conditions, its possible reconstruction, and faceting strongly influence the diameter of the carbon nanotubes, their structure (number of walls, graphene sheet orientation, chirality), their alignment, and the yield. The identified trends will be compared with recent observations on the growth of graphene. Recent results on metal-free catalysts will be analyzed from a different perspective.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress on the Growth Mechanism of Carbon Nanotubes: A Review

2011

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“…[1] Regarding film morphologies, the formation of ordered nanorods is important for improving the photocatalytic, photovoltaic or sensor properties of nanostructured TiO 2 thin films. [2,3] Among the various methods available to produce nanostructured thin films a very versatile procedure is the use of glancing angle physical vapor deposition (GLAD). [4,5] This method produces porous thin films formed by columns tilted by a certain angle with respect to the substrate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure of Glancing Incidence Deposited TiO₂ Thin Films as Revealed by Grazing Incidence Small‐Angle X‐ray Scattering

et al. 2010

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For the first time, grazing incidence small‐angle X‐ray scattering (GISAXS) analysis is used to characterize the morphology of TiO2 thin films grown by glancing angle physical vapor deposition (GLAD). According to cross‐section scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, the films consist of near isotilted TiO2 columns of different length and width depending on film thickness. The obtained GISAXS patterns show a characteristic asymmetry with respect to the incidence plane, which is associated with the tilted geometry of the TiO2 columns. The patterns also show the existence of two populations of columns in these GLAD‐TiO2 films. The population of the thinnest columns appears related to the first grown layer and is common for all the films investigated, while the second population of columns grows with the thickness of the films and has been related to wider columns formed by shadowing at the expense of the initially formed columns.

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“…Novel nanostructured carbon materials (carbon nanofibers, carbon nanotubes and graphene) have generated intense interest as catalyst supports in PEMFCs due to their unique structures and properties (4,5). However, the main drawbacks of these materials are high production cost and mass production.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Layer-by-Layer Polypyrrole Coated Graphite Oxide and Graphene Nanosheets as Catalyst Support Materials for Fuel Cells

Saner

Gürsel

Yürüm

2012

Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 applications yet it is necessary to develop low cost and more efficient PEMFCs. The heart of the PEMFC is the membrane electrode assembly composed of a proton exchange membrane sandwiched between two porous gas diffusion electrodes. These electrodes are made up of a catalyst support material or gas diffusion layer and a catalyst layer. Catalyst support materials have significant effect on the cost, performance and the durability of PEMFCs. The ideal support materials should provide high dispersion, utilization, activity, and stability for the catalyst especially platinum (Pt) (1-3). Carbon black has been extensively used as a catalyst support for Pt in PEMFC. However, alternatives to carbon black are still needed to enhance catalyst utilization and reduce the cost.Novel nanostructured carbon materials (carbon nanofibers, carbon nanotubes and graphene) have generated intense interest as catalyst supports in PEMFCs due to their unique structures and properties (4, 5). However, the main drawbacks of these materials are high production cost and mass production. At this point, graphene nanosheets can serve as the promising catalyst support because of its low-cost and large-scale production. In addition, free standing graphene sheets have large surface area, high thermal and electrical conductivity, and high mobility of charge carriers (6). According to Saner et al. (7) a few graphene layers provide effective surface area to improve metal-support interaction. Authors proposed a mild chemical exfoliation method for the reduction of layer number in graphitic structure and the production in large quantities of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Ruoff et al. (9) showed that chemically modified graphene was incorporated into ultracapacitor test electrodes in order to increase the energy density of the packaged ultracapacitor by increasing the electrode thickness and eliminating additives.Conducting polymers have high conductivity, are lightweight, inexpensive, flexible, airstable, and environmentally friendly but the major obstacle of conducting polymers as an electrode material is the degradation during cycling because of the volume change of the polymer due to the insertion/deinsertion of counter ions (10).Therefore, nanocomposites based on conducting polymers and carbon nanomaterials can be used as a potential catalyst support to improve the properties of supports and extend life cycle of fuel cells. There have been several attempts for the synthesis of these type of nanocomposites. Previously, Wang et al. (11) reported that the remarkable electrical conductivity and specific capacitance of graphene/polya...

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The Role of Nanostructure in Improving the Performance of Electrodes for Energy Storage and Conversion

Cited by 147 publications

References 247 publications

Recent Progress on the Growth Mechanism of Carbon Nanotubes: A Review

Recent Progress on the Growth Mechanism of Carbon Nanotubes: A Review

Structure of Glancing Incidence Deposited TiO₂ Thin Films as Revealed by Grazing Incidence Small‐Angle X‐ray Scattering

Layer-by-Layer Polypyrrole Coated Graphite Oxide and Graphene Nanosheets as Catalyst Support Materials for Fuel Cells

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The Role of Nanostructure in Improving the Performance of Electrodes for Energy Storage and Conversion

Cited by 147 publications

References 247 publications

Recent Progress on the Growth Mechanism of Carbon Nanotubes: A Review

Recent Progress on the Growth Mechanism of Carbon Nanotubes: A Review

Structure of Glancing Incidence Deposited TiO2 Thin Films as Revealed by Grazing Incidence Small‐Angle X‐ray Scattering

Layer-by-Layer Polypyrrole Coated Graphite Oxide and Graphene Nanosheets as Catalyst Support Materials for Fuel Cells

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Product

Resources

About

Structure of Glancing Incidence Deposited TiO₂ Thin Films as Revealed by Grazing Incidence Small‐Angle X‐ray Scattering